Chapter 268: Chapter 268 – Not the worst outcome

Seraphine’s mind moved fast, running the numbers on what would happen the second those pack gates swung open and Voren’s car rolled through. The warriors on night watch would clock it immediately.

Word would travel fast, and Ravyn would know before she even stepped out of the passenger seat.

She kept her voice even. "Voren, it’s late. Let me have Damon handle it." She turned slightly in her seat, turning just enough to look at him without making it obvious she was choosing her words carefully. "Raul left the pack years ago. I haven’t heard his name in a long time. The fact that he’s apparently back is what I can’t get my head around right now."

The brake lights lit up the road behind them as Voren pulled onto the shoulder and cut the engine down to idle.

He turned to look at her. Not the quick sideways glance he’d been giving her since they got in the car. A real look. The kind that expected something back.

"I need you to be straight with me about this." His voice wasn’t loud. "Because I am this close," his thumb and forefinger came up with barely a sliver of air between them, "to going directly to Ravyn and asking him to his face why the woman he’s demanding services from is walking around with a target painted on her back and nothing near enough protection to matter."

Seraphine held his gaze. She thought it through, turned it over, and then let out a slow breath.

"Fine." The word came out before she could dress it up in anything else. "But you stay out of my decisions. You don’t redirect me, you don’t override me, you don’t go around me. You’re in, but you’re not running it."

Something settled in Voren’s expression. He gave her one nod, turned the car around, and merged back onto the road without another word.

Seraphine pulled out her phone and dialed.

It rang once. Twice.

"Sera." Damon’s voice came through on the second ring. "Did something happen?"

"We found the man they sent." She kept it clean and short. "He gave up a name. Raul. I need you to find out if he’s working alone or if someone’s got a hand in his back."

Silence reigned at the end of the line for exactly one second.

"Raul." Damon’s voice came back slower this time, the word sitting in his mouth differently than it had in hers. Something moved underneath it. Suspicion. Recognition.

"He came back to the pack a few weeks ago. Been quiet since. Nothing that made me look twice." He paused. "But if you’re telling me he’s the one behind this, I’ll go handle him tonight."

The edge in those last three words was sharp enough to cut.

"Question him first, Damon." Seraphine kept her voice firm. "Please. I need to know what he knows before anything else happens to him."

Damon exhaled shortly at the end of the line. Then, "Copy that."

She ended the call and dropped the phone in her lap.

Voren eased into the hotel parking lot and rolled into an empty space near the far end, away from the lights. He cut the engine and the quiet came in around them, the kind that sits heavy after a night like the one they’d had.

"I’m not going anywhere until Damon calls back." He said it the way people say things that aren’t up for discussion. "So here’s what we’re doing. Either you come up to my room, or I stay in yours. Pick whichever one bothers you less."

Seraphine stared at the dashboard.

She genuinely could not believe the series of events that had folded her into this exact moment. Any other night. Any other version of this situation. But here she was, sitting in a dark parking lot at whatever hour this was, being offered a choice between two options she didn’t want.

"We are not sharing a room." Her voice was steady. "Not tonight, and not any other night." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Sera. Marsha’s voice drifted up from the back of her mind, soft and almost pleading. He’s leaving soon. Once you’re back across the outlands line, I go quiet again. Can’t you just this once—

No. The answer landed before Marsha could finish building the case.

A low snicker came back, warm and unbothered, and Seraphine resisted the urge to argue with her wolf in front of the man sitting twelve inches away from her.

"Alright." Voren’s hand hadn’t moved toward the door locks. "Then we wait it out right here. In the car. Until Damon calls."

Seraphine reached for the door handle, but it didn’t move.

She tried it again. Nothing. Her eyes cut sideways.

Voren’s expression was almost neutral. Almost.

Honestly not the worst outcome, Marsha offered cheerfully from somewhere in the back of her mind.

Seraphine pressed her lips together, breathed in through her nose, breathed out, and made a decision.

"My room." The words tasted like a compromise she wasn’t fully at peace with. "But the second Damon’s information comes through, you go back to yours. That’s not a request."

The corner of Voren’s mouth moved. Not quite a smile, but enough to be irritating.

"You’re much easier to be around when we’re on the same page."

Her back teeth pressed together. She had at least four responses ready and she swallowed every single one of them.

The door unlocked with a soft click and Seraphine was already moving before he finished getting out of his side. The walk to her room was quiet, her key card in her hand by the time they reached the door.

She pushed it open, stepped in first, and heard him come in behind her, his footsteps quiet on the carpet.

Seraphine didn’t look back. She crossed to the far side of the room and busied herself with absolutely nothing in particular while she heard him settle onto the couch, weight sagging into the cushions, the soft sound of someone making themselves comfortable in a space they hadn’t been invited into for long.

His presence filled the room in a way that had nothing to do with size, and she hated that she noticed it.

Her phone buzzed on the hand and she answered it before the second vibration finished.

"Sera." Damon’s voice came through different this time. Tighter. The particular tight that meant whatever he’d found was not small. "You are not going to believe this."